I'm Not Falling In Love!
by 13.shimer.13
Summary: Isis is a girl who goes to C.G.L. But, she is placed into A-tent, she gets next to none special treatment and her tent mates are, to be blunt, pretty damn crazy. She earns a nickname, steals a heart, and tears apart the camp... literally. M for language.
1. Chapter 1

I'm (Not) Falling In Love

_By 13Shimer13_

Disclaimer: I don't own the plot, I don't own Holes, but I do own my Original Characters: Isis, Jeffrey, Captain Crunch, Arsenic, Axis, Axe, Antsy, Arrow and Ape.

A/N: I have decided I'm sick of reading those silly 'girl-goes-to-C.G.L-and-everyone-loves-her-and-she-falls-in-love-with-one-of-the-cute-bad-boys-and-they-all-live-happily-ever-after-the-end' stories, which not only lack basic intelligence (hello—they hardly ever dig. They spend most of their time in the tent _gossiping_ or _kissing_ and somehow, the girl always manages getting away with a load of stuff—talking back to Mr. Sir, being best friends with the Warden, and sometimes emotionally trouncing the poor D-Tent boy's hearts), but also lack proper spellings and punctuation. Girl-goes-to-C.G.L stories just generally suck. It's a well known fact. Well, I've had enough of all of this, and so here is this story. Enjoy.

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Chapter 1: Welcome to hell.

I was not a particularly nice girl. To say that I was sweet would be a blatant lie. But then, my life had never been that great, either. I don't go in for self pity—it's not my style—and so the bus driver, who nervously consulted his rear view mirror to see my expression every few minutes, was disappointed when he saw a bored girl stare back. I did not cry, I did not smile, and I did not look at all upset to be here. I was indifferent, and—from experience—I found that this usually creeped people out. By never showing emotion, I managed to unnerve the man, and I hadn't even spoken yet!

I loved messing with people. It was so easy! I much preferred being sarcastic to being indifferent, but that was merely because it was fun to think up witty things to say. Indifference and sarcasm worked just as well as each other for messing with minds, but being sarcastic gave me a secret pleasure. However, I simply couldn't be bothered to speak; we were in a desert, after all, and although a window was open (like _that_ did anything), it was just too damn hot to be sarcastic; for now. But the bus ride had been silent for however many previous hours, and I certainly wasn't going to end it. Silence is golden.

But we arrived, eventually, and getting out was horrible—my legs had never been so dead in all my sixteen years of living! We walked in silence, of course. We reached a tiny shack-like building, and the bus driver nodded for me to enter. He followed and I almost sighed as we stepped into the air-conditioned room. Almost. Inside there was a man sitting at a desk. He looked grumpy, he was chewing sunflower seeds and he wore a cowboy hat. My first thought? Where can I get one of those?

"My name is Mr. Sir, when I speak to you, you will address me as Mr. Sir, Miss . . ." and here he looked at a manilla file on his desk, before speaking again "Fane. Well, well, well, Isis Fane. I would have thought that they'd have made you go to prison." He shook his head at me, and I stared back at him, my dead green eyes unblinking.

"Well, girlie, you'll need your new clothes, I suppose. You get two suits; one for work and one for relaxing. The laundry's done every three days, and you'll change in the tent like the others—no special treatment offered at _this_ camp." Mr. Sir dumped two orange suits into my waiting arms and then picked up some circular shaped lumps of metal. "These are shower tokens. You'll be showering with the other boys, and we have given them strict orders to treat you like a boy. Basically, no touching allowed. Some of these boys are stupid, so they may still insist on attempting something. If they do, you have permission to stop them. Otherwise, there's no fighting allowed, girly."

I nodded. What else was there to do?

"A proper response, if you please, girly!" Mr. Sir growled.

"Yes, Mr. Sir. Sorry, Mr. Sir." He nodded in approval (oh! So _that's_ what else there was to do . . .) and told me to get changed. He turned around, and I pulled on the suit. It was baggy, which may well have been a good thing—the boys at this camp had probably not seen a girl in months—and it was, as previously stated, a disgusting bright orange colour. Then Mr. Sir talked to me about the dangers of the camp—other than the campers, there was snakes, scorpions and, most deadly of all, the Yellow Spotted Lizards. When he had pulled out his gun, I had thought he was going to give me a lecture, but he had simply told me that the gun was for the Lizards, not me or the other campers.

And then he called in another man. "Isis Fane, meet your councillor: Jeffrey Reedman. Jeffrey, meet your newest criminal, Isis." The man was fairly tall, with sun bleached hair, so light it was a fine shade of white. He was young, wearing worn clothing and was smiling at me.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss. Fane. I am, as Mr. Sir just said, your councillor, so if you have any troubles, just come to me. You'll be with A-tent, and I've told them to be on their best behaviour. Let's go and meet them now."

Before we left, Mr. Sir yelled at my back, "This aint no Girl Scout camp, missy. Welcome to hell, girly!"

Jeffrey Reedman seemed nice—he was nicer than Mr. Sir at the very least—but it was the nice ones you had to watch out for. If somebody was nasty from the moment you met them, you wouldn't expect them to change. If somebody was nice to you, you'd always be waiting for them to become nasty.

"The 'A' stands for Atonement. Atoning is, after all, what you are here to do," Jeffrey sounded bored; no doubt he was required to say that to all of the criminals he was in charge of. And I also couldn't help but think of some more . . . _ruder things that the letter 'A' also stood for. So yes, 'A' stood for atonement, but it also stood for: Anal, Asshole, Assed, Anger, Amputation, Arguing, Attila (the hun), Army, Acting, Aggression, Aggravation and Annoyance._

_I almost had a giggle-fit. Almost._

"This is your tent, and inside you will find your tent mates. It's camp tradition to have nicknames, and those are the names you'll be calling them by, so I won't bother telling you their real names. It will only serve to confuse you. In A-tent, we're slightly more . . . creative than the other tents when it comes to names. All of our names begin with the letter 'A'. I'm your councillor, yes, but when you're here you'll be calling me by Ace. It's the boy's nickname for me—I have it a lot better than most of the other councillors, D-tent call theirs 'Mom' and E-tent call theirs 'Captain Crunch'. Any questions before we go in, Isis?" he raised an eyebrow at me, challenging me silently to show any weakness.

"No, Ace. No questions at all." He looked at me for a minute, as if deciding whether to actually bring me in or not, and then nodded.

And so we walked into hell.

There were six boys sitting on various cots—and they were hardly cots, let alone beds—just chilling out. And then, they looked at me: chaos ensued. And I was scared shitless.

Some were confused; "Hey, Ace, who's the girl?"

Some were leering; "Hello baby! We're gonna have some _fun_!"

And others were more . . . loud; "Ooh! Camp just got a hell lot better!"

But Ace was taking no shit today. Hee hee. "Alright, boys; shut the hell up!"

And there was instant silence. Sigh. Peace at last!

"Isis, these are your tent mates; we have: Arsenic, Axis, Axe, Antsy, Arrow and Ape. Guys, this is Isis."

The boys had waved as their names had been called out. Ace told me that Arsenic would be my mentor, and then he left me. Alone in a tent with six boys in; and a very prominent awkward silence.

What had it been that Mr. Sir had said again? Oh yeah, "Welcome to hell."

Truer words had never been spoken.

* * *

A/N: So . . . what did y'all think? Worth carrying on?


	2. Chapter 2

I'm (Not) Falling In Love

A/N: The song is 'Hot 'n Cold' by Katy Perry. Obviously. And, also obviously, I don't own it. Or _Holes_.

Previously: Truer words had never been spoken.

So. Here I was, stuck in a tent in the middle of nowhere, with a group of hot-blooded boys, who were practically criminal masterminds.

Oh, joy.

"So..." said an extremely gangly boy. I think his name might have been Arsenic, but I can't really be sure. He frowned as he said, "I'm your mentor." the simple statement said lots: that he was who I had thought he was, that he wasn't particularly fond of the idea of mentoring The Girl, and that this boy was the only chance I had at survival.

"Yes, I guess you are," I replied warily. He could make or break me—surely he realized that?

"Well, I'll try and help you as much as I can. I'm going to have to at least attempt to protect you from the boys, yourself, and the warden. And I'm not going to help you because I want to. I'm going to help you because Ace would kill me if I didn't. So listen up, Isis, as I guide you through the Dos and Don'ts of Camp Green Lake."

I nodded, sat on the only available bed—conveniently next to Arsenic's—which I assumed was mine, and listened to what he had to say.

"Let me talk you through the tents. F-tent is the councilors, and to be avoided at all costs. Councilors are pretty damn mean and snobby. They hate you, you hate them, they ignore you, you ignore them... and hopefully no one gets killed. E-tent are all here for knife crimes. They're like emos, cutting away all day, but instead of cutting themselves, they would rather cut you. So unless you want to be dissected while still alive (but not for long after they're finished with you)... I'd steer clear of them. D-tent are a bunch of girls—definitely the most harmless of the lot, if you ask anyone. The worst any one of them will do to you is use a terrible pick-up line on you. C-tent stick to themselves, but they're an unpredictable lot. Don't interact with them unless you actually have to. B-tent-ers are most likely to rape you. Sorry for being blunt about it, but it's the truth. The majority of them were sent here with records, and those records are proof that they are bad and most likely to be... forceful. A-tent is just generally awesome. Stick with us, and we'll try and protect you from the perils of Camp Green Lake."

He paused for breath here and then continued. "Okay, so, here's an easy way to remember the tents: F= Fuckers, E= Emos, D= Delinquents, C= Creeps, B= Bastards and A= Awesome. Can you at least try to remember that for me?"

I nodded and he nodded back.

"We'll show you around tomorrow. It should be dinner soon, so we can show you to the mess hall. And then you'll get a real... _taste_ of what it's like to be a camper here."

For some reason, the word taste sent him into a bout of laughter, and the other five boys joined in, grinning like wolfs.

*Some time later*

I now understand why Arsenic had laughed at the word taste. The food here is disgusting. You couldn't even tell what it had been before it had been Camp Green Lake-ified. It was worse than school dinners, for chocolate's sake!

And possibly poisonous.

Hell, I wouldn't have fed that shit to Mr. Sir! Although, come to think of it, that sounds quite tempting... er, joking? But really, it would just be so much fun to see him suffer...

So. It's now bedtime, and I'm told I'm gonna need my strength—tomorrow I'll dig my first hole. Ugh.

"Hey, girlie, wake up!" Ow, my ears hurt... what's going on?

"Excuse me while I yawn, but isn't it still sleeping time? It's dark outside..." Oh, who in this infernal camp woke me up? I was having a great dream...

"No, Isis, it's time to start digging. So get up, get dressed, and get outta here. We need to catch breakfast right now... and we _will_ leave without you." I groaned tiredly and reluctantly got out of bed. The boys politely looked away—and I was infinitely grateful to them for it—as I got dressed (they were all already dressed, being used to the routine) and we left for the Mess hall, and, in turn, breakfast (which was slightly better than dinner, but not by much).

We went to a place the boys called 'the Library', which was devoid of books and filled with shovels. Excuse me while I pull a frowny face...

"Isis? Are you okay? Guys, do you think there's something wrong? She looks kind of constipated..." What! I was pulling a frowny face! These guys are even more stupid than I thought they'd be! Haven't they ever seen a frowny face before? Le gasp! They haven't, have they? The poor dears...

"Isis? Can you hear us? Are you alright?" the voices interrupted my thoughts (how rude!) and I turned around to look at the person who was (rudely) interrupting my thoughts.

"Oh! I know you! Your name is... Andy... Aunty... Antsy!" Antsy gave me a weird look.

"Mr. Sir, I think she's dehydrated." I mentally gasped in shock. How did he know? He was a smart camper! (Note to self: Lay off of sarcasm when people can't hear it...)

"Am not!" I shouted childishly.

"Are too!" he shouted back.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Ooh... somebody needs to chillax...

"Sorry, Mr. Sir," I mumbled weakly.

"Sorry, Mr. Sir," Antsy muttered.

"Now, I don't care who's dehydrated, who's not dehydrated or whether either of you get hydrated ever again. What I do care about is the fact that the both of you haven't begun digging yet. So get digging! Got it?"

"Yes, Mr. Sir!" We called at the same time. He gave us an evil glare, and then quickly walked off.

And so we began to dig.

We dug a lot.

All we did was dig.

For half-an-hour, we dug.

We dug for three more half-hours.

We just… dug.

Occasionally, Mr. Sir and one of the other councilors, Mr. Pendanski (Mom), stopped to give us water and even some food—the most edible food I'd eaten in Camp Green Lake (I think it starts to taste better when you're hungry…).

After lunch, some of the boys started leaving. Show offs. Arsenic and Antsy were the first to go, followed by the intimidating Ape and his friend Arrow. Axis and Axe were the only ones, excluding myself, who were left behind. I had so many blisters on my hands by this point that I was surprised I could still dig—how did these guys do it every day?

"How do you guys do this every day?" I whined loudly.

"Do what?" asked a smirking Axis.

"Dig! It's so boring! I feel a little suicidal from the depression of sticking a shovel into the ground and moving a pile of dirt!"

"Well, you're still alive, aren't you?"

"Yes. But not for long! I'll be so bored I'll _have_ to kill myself for a little fun." Or I could start singing. Karaoke is so much fun. And I want some fun. No, I _need_ some fun. I honestly do.

Mind made up, I started to sing. There was no music, but I didn't really need it. "You! Change your mind! Like a girl! Changes clothes! Yeah you! PMS! Like a bitch! I should know…" hee hee. I truly am terrible at singing. I even have proof of it—both boys have abandoned their lovely shovels in favor of holding their hands over their ears.

I think they want more.

"'Cause you're hot then you're cold! You're yes then you're no! You're in then you're out! You're up then you're down…"

God help them when it gets to shower time. I really go for it then—I can't help it. I'm an annoying shower-singer. I have to do it.

"Someone, call the doctor, got a case of love bi-polar…" If I keep up the singing (which I will), I may be done before them! They've seriously given up on digging. I must be even worse at singing than I thought I was. Hmm. That's an interesting piece of information.

Ten songs later, I was done. Ten songs later, they were still in the same position as last time. Ten songs later, my voice hurt like _hell no!_

But it had been so worth it. "Later, boys." They responded with a glare. Hey, I think they like me!


	3. Chapter 3

I'm (Not) Falling In Love

A/N:

Previously: Hey, I think they like me!

So I walked back up to camp, all happiness and lightness, with my heavy shovel in tow. I would have preferred using a bucket and spade like at the beach, but I don't think they'd appreciate my opinion. People here don't really appreciate much about me. Like my lovely, wonderful, truly magnificent singing voice. Or my usual voice which allows me to be mean to them. There's only one thing I've noticed people here appreciate: the fact that I'm a girl. And that really is rather rude of the nincompoops. Do I go around staring at them all with lusty eyes, mentally drooling (and sometimes physically, too) about their gender? No, because some of them look like serial killers, and most of them are just too damn creepy, but that isn't really the point! The point is that…

Uh oh. There are two boys heading this way. Toward me, unless I'm mistaken.

Ah well. I have a shovel. So ner.

"Hello there, girly." A leering idiot. Urgh.

"Good morning!" I said brightly. Fool looked confused for a while as his friend tried to stop staring at me for long enough to attempt thinking too. I pushed through them, walked to the library, put the shovel away, and by the time I was changed and at the wreck room door, they'd started to process the first of my words. So I went into the room, glad they hadn't worked anything out as yet. Give it til tomorrow, and they may have worked out it wasn't morning! Or not…

"Hey Isis, over here!" called Antsy

"Antsy, man! It's been years!" I beamed at him, glad to see a familiar face. He scowled at me.

"What are you, a crackwhore? We spoke maybe a few hours ago. Not years, hours. _Hours_." I snickered. Well, he fell into that trap really easy, didn't he!

"I was just messing with you, Ants-pants. Your face!" ah, 'your face!' is probably one of my favourite insults. People didn't even get it if you used it in the right context.

"Hey, mentor-man, how you doin'?" I did a Joey voice—I couldn't help it, really. Arsenic smiled—yes, he actually smiled!—and said with a small laugh. "Not bad Joey. How you doin'?" he mimicked my voice and I grinned

"I'm fine. Bit tired after waking up so early, but I'm fine."

I saw the rest of our tent mates were in here too—minus Axe and Axis. "Hey, are Axis and Axe back yet?"

"Nope. You were the last one with them. Why, you haven't killed them or something, have you?"

"Hey! Why would I be asking about them if I'd killed them?"

"Well _I_ don't know. I'm no murderer."

"Neither am I!"

Just as I was really getting into our semi argument, the door was flung open and in walked Axis and Axe. I grinned. They looked dead. "Hey, guys! How you doin'?" they couldn't resist the Joey voice, could they?

"You!" apparently Axe _could_. So I batted my eyelashes at him, obviously! (What else was there to do?)

"Yes?"

"Devil girl! Devil girl!" he started chanting looking quite scary. I was about to tell him to chill, when he shook his head at me.

"Don't open your mouth. If you start singing again, I'll kill you. I'll kill you!" okay, mate, but I heard that the first time—there really was no need to repeat that last bit of the sentence.

"Why shouldn't Isis sing?" asked Ape, confused. Really. He was like a big and confused… Ape.

Axis smirked and said "on a scale of one to ten, ten being absolutely brilliant and one being beyond imaginably rotten, Isis brings it one lower than the bottom. She makes zero."

Arrow made a strangled noise (which was, I suppose, him muffling a laugh) before getting out "surely she's not _that_ bad!"

"She _is_ that bad!" I answered fairly modestly. Everyone turned and stared at me. How _unusual_. But then everyone turned and looked as the door opened and in walked the stupid boys from ages ago. I put a hand in front of my mouth to muffle my laugh and hide my smile. How long had that taken them? Two hours? Less than I'd thought it would, admittedly. Their eyes narrowed, the buffoons walked up to me.

"It isn't morning." Said the one who had spoken earlier.

"Well, you are very clever, then. Don't mind me; my mother dropped me on my head as a child." And that probably wasn't even a total lie.

Poor me.

I started to babble, to confuse them, mainly. It wasn't that hard, really.

"And then the monkey killed the priest, but I honestly didn't know what was going on and everyone was shouting and it was so confusing, you know what I mean? But they were like, oh my God, Herman, how could you? And then they were like "no!" and we were like "yes!" but they were so gross! And then Sophie got really annoyed and Millie slapped Jesus, but it was okay because she's religious. Bye bye!"

And then I was out of there, with a trail of boys—six to be precise—following, confused and slightly annoyed as we walked back to the tent.

Now, since it had taken, what, two, maybe three hours for them to process my first sentence, it would definitely take them til around midday tomorrow to work out what I'd said hadn't made any sense.

The more imminent problem was figuring out how to tell these boys why I'd been babbling like an idiot to those fools without sounding like an idiot—not exactly mission impossible, but I wanted to earn my tent mate's respect the old fashioned way. And not sound like a scared girl who can't solve her own problems.

"What _was_ that back there?" asked Arrow as soon as we had entered the tent.

"That? That was confusion tactics." I replied nodding impressively as they gave me 'God you're weird' looks. The only one who seemed to understand the importance of what I'd said was Antsy, and he was hardly the best ally—the leader of the tent (excluding Ace, who's just a councillor, after all) was quiet Arrow, and I knew that he would be the guy to have on side—as he was a bit simple in the head. And crazy as bat shit.

Ah well. I tried.

"So you've had a run in with those guys before the wreck room?" asked Arrow.

"Yep. I said good morning to them when they leered at me and, two hours later the poor dears came and found me in the wreck room and confirmed their idiocy to me. I reckon it should take them until tomorrow to work out what I said and how little sense it made. Stupid bastards."

And _now_ they all understood the need for confusion tactics. _Now _they were awed by my awesomeness.

Thinking about it, they're a bit slow, aren't they? Okay, not as slow as Slow and Slower—my nicknames for the idiots—but bordering somewhere near their standards of speed. Dangerously near.

"Okay. I want to change, so turn around please!" Axe, who still looked rather livid, smirked evilly.

"Why should we turn around? Warden said we were to treat you like one of the boys. We don't have to turn around and get changed usually." But now it was my turn to smirk evilly. When you have leverage—really good leverage—you use it.

"I should warn you, I might possibly start singing for you—especially for you, Axe, as I know just how much you _love_ my singing—unless you all turn the other way. If the latter were the case, I'd probably resist my urge to sing—if you resisted yours to watch me… sing." His smirk disappeared, and every single boy turned away. There. Peace, at last.

From that day on, every boy turned away whenever I wanted to change.

In my first weekly meeting with the other A-tenters and Ace, Ace asked me how I was doing (but not in the cool Joey way).

"How are you doing, Isis?"

"Fine, Ace. I'm fine."

"That's good. So, boys and girl," he gave me a friendly smile as he subtly singled me out—no other councillor had ever had to say 'girl' before. "I thought that today we'd cover hobbies."

A groan—out of habit, it appeared—ran through the room. Ace rolled his eyes, used to it, and simply said,

"Ape can start us off this week." Ape grinned and cleared his throat self-importantly

"My hobbies are digging, digging and digging." He pointed at Axis and said "What are yours?"

"My hobbies are eating, eating and eating." Axis pointed at Arrow and said "What are yours?"

"My hobbies are pool, pool and pool." Arrow pointed at Axe and said "What are yours?"

"My hobbies are walking, walking and walking." Axe pointed at Antsy and said "What are yours?"

"My hobbies are sun bathing, sun bathing and sun bathing." Antsy pointed at Arsenic and said "What are yours?"

"My hobbies are talking, talking and talking." Arsenic pointed at me and said "What are yours?"

"My hobbies are singing, singing and singing." I pointed at Ace and said "What are yours?"

"My hobbies are counselling, counselling and counselling. Any complaints? Worries?"

There was silence. But then Axe had to go and speak.

"Yeah, Isis sucks at singing! We're all going to die of exposure to the dangerous sound of her vocal chords!"

Everyone laughed. Even me. Hey, it was kinda funny.

"Right, well if that's all, then you're dismissed. And don't forget that everyone needs to think up a nickname for Isis—that will be our next meeting, deciding a nickname for her. Pretty ones, right?"

And then we left and went back to our tent.

The whole camp seems to know about my terrible singing—now nobody wants to have a shower (or be anywhere near the showers) when I'm in there. I feel quite respected!


	4. Chapter 4

I'm (not) falling in love

Previously: I feel quite respected!

And so the next few days went: wake up at ungodly hour, annoy boys, change while boys turned around, annoy boys, turn around while boys change, annoy boys, scoff down breakfast (no matter how shit it tastes), annoy boys, get shovel, annoy boys, start digging, annoy boys, eat lunch (no matter how shit it tastes), annoy boys, dig, annoy boys, go back to tent, annoy boys if in there, get showering stuff, shower, change, go to wreck room and annoy boys, and so on.

Thinking about it, most of my time is spent annoying boys. Hee hee. No wonder they all hate me so much.

Oh, and here come two boys I love annoying: Antsy and Axe. Hee hee hee.

"Hey Isis." Says Antsy warily.

"Devil girl." Says Axe with a nod of acknowledgement.

"Hi guys!" am I seriously the only one with enthusiasm in this hell hole? Wait… it's a hell hole. Of course no one's enthusiastic here.

"What right do _you_ have to be happy, Devil girl? Hmm?" that's Axe, of course. He doesn't really like me at the moment. I'm sure I don't know why, though.

"That was rather mean of you, Axe. I'm heart broken to think that you want me to be miserable. Well, not really. I honestly don't care whether you wish for my happiness or not. The point is, it's sunny and hot and I'm happy to be alive!" Antsy frowns at me.

"But it's always so sunny you have to squint, and it's always so hot that you feel you're on fire here. How can you be happy to live here?" Spoilsport. He just had to say that, didn't he? I was _trying_ to imagine I was on a beach somewhere like… Spain.

"Well, it's a lot better here than the other place I was living."

"Where were you living before?"

"None of your business. And even if it _were_ your business, Antsy, I would never talk about it in front of Axe." And then I walked away from them—hopefully they were annoyed.

By Circle Time (as I had dubbed the weekly meetings), I was extremely B-o-r-e-d (the capital B was a must have, of course. I'm cool like that). Ace asked me, once again, how I was.

"How are you, Isis?" I could have said ecstatic; overwhelmingly joyous; or even spontaneously happy and if I'd felt like it; sporadically insane.

"Terribly bored." But I had to say the—completely honest and—entirely serious answer. It dredged up a few smiles, a weak grin and even one not-entirely-there laugh.

"Alright. What we have to do is think up a name for Isis. I trust everyone's thought of one, haven't they?" he shot a look—it wasn't entirely clean, but it wasn't stained either—at Axe. I'm sure I don't know any reason why he would give _Axe_ an evil look. Much. Of course, the all knowing councillor extraordinaire that is Jeffrey Reedman (aka Ace), would know Axe was the one leading the 'We Hate Isis Fane' fan club. He even designed the jackets.

"So we're going to go around the group and Isis, you don't get a say in your nickname, nor can you suggest anything." Well, that's nice, isn't it? These guys are just so darn considerate…

"Okay, Axis is starting us off." Axis gave an unenthusiastic cheer—he had obviously had some trouble thinking of just one word beginning with 'A' to describe me.

"My idea is Applesauce." Axis then pointed at Arrow and said "What's yours?"

"My idea is Anger." Arrow pointed at Axe with a smirk "What's yours?"

"My idea is Annoyance." scowled Axe. I know he hated me, but really… "What's yours?"

"My idea is Acacia." Said Antsy with a peaceful smile. Then he pointed at Arsenic. "What's yours?"

"My idea is Angel." Arsenic didn't really look like he believed in that name, somehow. "What's yours?"

"My idea is Autumn." Ace was the final one. So. What was my name gonna be? _Please not Applesauce, please not Applesauce… what kind of a name is Applesauce, anyway?_

"Alright, here's how it's going to work. I'm going to hand out some slips of paper and some pencils, and you vote for which one you like best. No voting for your own idea!"

I thought I'd die of anticipation while they voted. It was really strange how I'd got sucked into this world so quickly. I found myself feeling nervous—this nickname would be proof that I belonged, actually _belonged_ in this place.

And I would be devastated if I was called Applesauce. I don't even like Applesauce!

Ace collected the paper and pencils in. and then he started making piles.

One, two, three piles. There could be a tie, and I could choose between three!

Or not.

"The names 'Applesauce', 'Anger' and 'Angel' got no votes. The name 'Annoyance' got only one vote. 'Autumn' received two. So Isis, your new name is Acacia."

YAY! My name's not Applesauce, my name's not Applesauce!

"Woo hoo! Yay! Yeah, my name's _not_ Applesauce, my name's _not_ Applesauce…" que dance moves (naturally, only the bad ones) and happy music!

7 'you're _soo_ crazy!' looks, 6 seconds of pure rave dancing, 5 shaking heads, 4 repeated words (my name's _not_ Applesauce), 3 seconds of stunned silence after my, er, _outburst_, 2 glares off of Arrow and Axe, and (a partridge in a pair tree!) 1 offended Axis (I guess he thought Applesauce suited me…) later, we were leaving the room.

"Well, I'll see you guys later. I'm gonna take a shower…"

"Sure thing, Acacia." I waved to the guys, got my showering stuff and a token and went to take the four minute long cold and wet thing they called a shower.

It was nirvana.

Bloody cold, but nirvana.

Perhaps nirvana _is_ cold. Freezing cold. And lasting only 4 minutes. It is here. Shower done, I redressed in the truly heinous orange jumpsuit they had issued me upon my arrival. Now, I'm not a very girly girl, but even I have to admit that the orange jumpsuits are, not only extremely unflattering, but that they also are just hideous. Extremely hideous. Like, if I had a choice between wearing a bin bag and this orange jumpsuit for the rest of my life and any afterlife there is, then I would choose the bin bag. Bin bags are a lot more pleasing to the eye than the jumpsuits. I had a tank top on under the jumpsuit, so I decided to not put my arms into the jumpsuit, leaving my torso open to the heat, the sun and the boy's eyes.

I had to find a new way to annoy them at some point—they won't be able to bear my feminine flesh revealed to them!

My theory was proven when I walked into the wreck room to assorted wolf whistles and cheers. One hopeful from a different tent—I didn't know which—tried pinching my bottom. Flipping him off, I made my way over to the pool table. I rock at pool. But they don't need to know that, do they?

"Hey guys!" I greeted them with an innocent smile. This should have elicited suspicion, but none of them saw it. Their eyes were on my (already mentioned) feminine flesh.

"Can I play pool with one of you guys?"

"Are you any good at it?" asked Arsenic immediately.

"Um. It's been a while since I played it. It's, uh, the one with the yellow and red ones, right?" Arsenic grinned.

"Alright. I'll play ya." Hee hee. I didn't technically lie—it _has_ been a while since I played it. And, okay, maybe I exaggerated it a bit with the whole 'it's the game with the yellow and red ones, right' thing, but still! Would they have agreed if they knew I was okay at the game?

Axe set the balls up, and I focused on pretending not to know how to hold the cue. Arsenic, the cocky bastard, looked at me with a confident smirk. It was time to school these little boys in the art of pool.

"Can I go first?" I asked in my best girly-girl voice. My request was approved instantly.

I broke, and before they knew what was happening, I'd potted two reds. Arsenic frowned.

"My go again?" Arsenic nodded, confused by how I'd managed to pot two balls on my first go, if I hadn't even known properly what colour balls were in it. I potted another red, and kept on potting them until there was just the black left. Arsenic hadn't even had his first turn yet. Every single person in the wreck room was gathered around the battered pool table, watching me batter Arsenic at a game I'd professed to not knowing very well. I chose to put him out of his misery, and the room went crazy.

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Antsy. "You're like, an evil genius at that game!"

I laughed and said, "Pool must be like riding a bike—you never really forget how to play it!"

I shook hands with Arsenic who still looked extremely confused, then stretched—needless to say, all of them stared—and made to exit the room, but countless hands tugged me back over to the pool table.

"You can't leave now!" growled Axe. "You aren't leaving until someone beats you. And we definitely aren't letting you break again!" oh well. There goes my plan of an early night…

"Wait, wait, wait! I don't want to play pool anymore; I want to write to my friend!" Axe gave me a 'do we _look_ like we care' look, so I decided to bribe them.

"I'll give you a hug instead of a game of pool!" they can't resist a hug!

Axe crossed his arms before shaking his head and saying, "You can do better than a hug, Acacia." I scowled at him. A hug was as far as I went, and he would just have to live with disappointment.

"No. A hug is as far as I go."

"A kiss on the cheek, at the very least. As well as a hug."

"Which would you prefer? A kick to the nuts, or a nice, friendly hug? You choose."

"Fine, a hug. Each."

"Fine. But no groping."

I hugged all of A-tent first, and there was no groping—all was looking up. Then it was people from D-tent (I knew this because Arrow called them up to hug me) and not one of them tried to grope me either, though one guy, X-Ray he said his name was, tried to hug me for a lot longer than everyone else. Then it was the E-tenters, after they were checked for sharp objects, and so on. The only time I had to deal with a groper was when we got to the last person from the last tent, B-tent, who tried to get me to wrap my legs around him by picking me up by my ass.

I kneed him in the nuts, and then, finally, got to leave.

I went back to A-tent, leaving them to play pool and stuff, and I took out my pad of paper and my pencil and sat down to write a letter. I had told the guys I wanted to write home to a friend. That was true. There was just a 'boy' in front of the word 'friend'. But it was—it _is_—complicated.

The fact that I hate him just makes it even more impossible, even more complicated, than it should have been. Now that I think of it properly, everything with Nicky is impossible and complicated… that says something, doesn't it?

It says I shouldn't be with him. And I wouldn't, but…well, it's complicated, isn't it?


	5. Chapter 5

I'm (not) falling in love

Previously: Well, it's complicated, isn't it?

After composing a short note of hatred for my _beloved _boyfriend, I lay on my small bed and scowled at the top of the pitiful tent I was sleeping in. Just as I was really getting into it, my lovely tent mates rushed in and flopped onto their own beds with the grace of a small stampede of hippopotamuses. This made me scowl even more (such a thing was amazingly possible!), because I wasn't in the mood for company; especially not the company of six annoying _boys_.

"Why are you scowling?" asked Arsenic with a smile. I ignored him. He repeated his question, this time a little less amused and a little more annoyed. Once more I ignored him.

"Oi!" Arsenic shouted. "I'm talking to you, Acacia! The least you can do is answer my question." I sat up, slowly, and stopped looking at the top of the tent. I crossed my arms and scowled at him.

He glared back, and asked me once again why I was being moody. Insufferable fool! Why was he so interested in my bad mood?

"Are you sure you want to know why I'm scowling? Absolutely positive?" I asked him. The other five boys were paying rapt attention, so I addressed them too. "Do you all want to know why I'm in a crap mood, hmm?"

They all nodded, so I didn't feel guilty reaching under my bed and pulling out a tampon. I threw it at Arsenic's head and started crying. "Does this explain why I'm in a shit mood? Huh? Can't a girl even—" _hiccup _"—bleed in peace at this place? No, she can't! Newsflash, numbskulls: when you see me scowling stay away from me, because I have other things on my mind. Like how stupid it is that I have to _bleed _every single month for the next 30 years! So just leave me alone!"

The whole tent had gone silent, and I lay back down and scowled at the tent top some more. It was a bit embarrassing, having to admit to six boys that the reason I was withdrawing from them was because of my period, but they all stayed clear of me for the rest of the night and didn't bother me at all. They were learning.

The next day, at breakfast, some idiot tried to feel me up. I kicked him soundly in his manly parts, and no one tried anything again. All of the A-tent boys were officially scared of me, and I had them all doing my bidding for me—in that they protected me from the other boys, and I was nice to them in exchange.

In the wreck room, I kicked all their arses at pool, but Arsenic's was my favourite because he always made the funniest faces when he lost. That and I'd realised lately that he put the 'arse' into 'Arsenic', which made me and the others laugh, but he didn't find it very amusing...

Ace and I surprisingly started to get along. At the meetings, we tended to mock Axe, my favourite one to mock. So angry. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But yeah, Ace was one cool councillor. The meetings weren't so much counselling as a mockery of counselling; sure, we all participated in whatever lame question he had to ask us that time, or the activity—always in the same repetitive way. For once, I felt like I belonged somewhere, which was unusual. I started to realise that I liked these 'criminals'. They were just boys who'd done some shitty stuff, but sometimes it was because they had to. _Most _times it was because they had to. Nearly all of them were here for stealing, and it wasn't shit like DVDs. It was food. Crummy clothes that you wouldn't be caught dead out in. and then they were punished for not having enough money to buy things and sent to a camp where the food was crap and they had to do weird manual labour. I mean, really? Digging holes? What were we looking for, some kind of buried treasure? Pfft, as if.

At first it had been really hard to dig and I had to do my best not to keel over from being exhausted and complain about blisters constantly. But then my hands got all calloused and my arms grew stronger, and my skin became lovely and tanned. I had adapted to it. And I felt a lot healthier than I had ever been. Skinny, with some killer muscles and a nice tan. There weren't any mirrors around the camp, but when I touched my face now I could feel distinguished cheek bones, I think.

Eventually I was even one of the fastest diggers, placing 2nd to Antsy, who was quickest. I'd soon realised he was called Antsy for a reason—always moving about quickly, having to do something energetic. He was the kind of kid who could do two holes in one day and still have plenty of energy, which was ridiculous but still pretty cool I guess. I had been expecting Ape to be one of the quicker ones because of his large muscles, but he was always sort of in the middle because he was strong but not as quick. The routine was nice, and it was good to kick back in our little tent and chill. We'd talk about things—not our pasts; that shit was out of bounds for all of us—but other things. Like what we missed from out there. What we wanted to do when we got out.

I started to talk more to the guys in D-tent, because they seemed pretty friendly. They were a bit quiet, but over all quite nice. I even started talking to Kevin, a guy in E-tent. He was sort of their leader, and I helped him when he was having some troubles with how he was holding his shovel. I showed him how to hold it so it didn't hurt his hands as much, and so I gained the respect of the dangerous (yet very nice) members of E-tent.

But between maybe my second and third month of staying here, our routine was broken by that stupid bus, which carried an old familiar face on it. All hell proceeded to break loose.


	6. Chapter 6

I'm (Not) Falling In Love

Previously: ...all hell proceeded to break loose.

"Nicky?" I shouted, livid. What the hell was he doing here, in my refuge? He stepped off of the bus, and smirked in a way that had once made me go weak at the knees. Now, it disgusted me.

"Hello, Isis. You didn't really think you would get rid of me, did you?" he asked me with a snort. I had been hoping I would, but apparently I'd been a fool to think that. The bus driver grabbed Nicky and took him to see Mr. Sir, and I was left with 6 boys looking at me, hoping for an explanation.

Crap.

"Who was that?" asked Arsenic, laying down his shovel and crossing his arms. The others looked at me expectantly, waiting silently for me to tell them everything. I put down my shovel and sat down, hard on the rocky terrain. How could I explain the presence of Nicky, my one time love, now what represented all of the bad in my life?

I couldn't. Not without telling them everything—and I could never tell them _everything_. I don't... understand. I don't understand what I ever did to make my life go like this, not a single thing.

"That was Nicky." I said simply, holding my head in my hands. "You have to help me," I told them. I hoped they would. "I'll try and explain why later, but for now... can you please help me?" my voice shook with my anger, I was close to tears. They all nodded, we picked our shovels back up and we carried on digging in silence.

And then...

"You've got a friend in me," sang Antsy softly, still digging. "You've got a friend in me," he sang again, a little louder.

"When the road looks rough ahead, and you're miles and miles from your nice warm bed, just remember what your old pal said, "you've got a friend in me,"" Arrow joined in, his voice rumbling gently as he rhythmically dug his hole.

"You've got a friend in me," sang Antsy, Arrow and Ape.

"You've got a friend in me," Axis and Axe added their voices to the cacophony.

"You've got a friend in me," now all of the boys were singing as we dug, even Arsenic, and I listened in silence, hating the fact that if I joined they'd probably all stop, unable to bear the noise.

"If you've got troubles, well I've got them too," sang Antsy on his own.

"There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you," sang Axis heartily

"We stick together and we see it through," Arrow sang with a smile

"You've got a friend in me," They were a chorus once more. "You've got a friend in me,"

"Some other folks might be a little bit smarter than I am," that was Axe, looking like he didn't believe that at all.

"Bigger and stronger too, maybe," Ape sang, swinging his big strong arms around with a grin.

"But none of them will ever love you the way I do, it's me and you," sang Arsenic sheepishly, going a little bit pink underneath his tanned skin.

"And as the years go by, our friendship will never die," I said, clearly not singing, because I was terrible at it. Then they all sang the rest of it over the sound of shovels moving dirt slowly.

"You're gonna see it's our destiny, you've got a friend in me, you've got a friend in me, you've got a friend in me..."

The impromptu singing cheered me up slightly and we all dug ferociously, wanting to get back to camp so we could talk and work out our next move. We were done in record time, and we walked back to camp thoroughly exhausted. It was time for me to tell them. It was time for me to confront the truth.

The truth.

It was something I hadn't thought about for a while now. I'd been a little busy, what with getting settled in and digging holes and proving time and time again that I was not a girl to be fucked with. But now, I had to remember my horrifying past and all of the baggage that came with me and—apparently—followed me into a boy's camp in the middle of the desert.

Because life wasn't stressful enough as it was as a sarcastic delinquent without added stress to make life just that little bit more exciting. Give me a break.

"Right, the truth." I said. They all looked at me expectantly. "That was Nicky, my boyfriend. _Somehow_ the bastard managed to get here."

"You have a _boyfriend?_" asked Arsenic, Ape and Axis.

"Wait... that was your _boyfriend_?" Antsy asked me, looking horrified.

"Wait... you had a boyfriend, and you never told us about it?" Arrow asked me in disbelief.

These reactions were what I'd expected—or what I should've expected, at least. What really surprised me was Axe's reaction. He came over to me, and gave me a hug, keeping calm and not saying anything negative. Instead, he said in a quiet voice "Explain," and so I did.

I told them about Nicky, the 15 year old guy I'd started going out with at 14, two and a half years ago. He had been cute and charming. He seemed to care about me, and listened to me when I needed him to. No one else had ever listened to me before. No one else had ever cared as much as he did. And that, in the end, was something he rarely let me forget—he relished holding the fact that he was the only one who really gave a damn about me over my head. In arguments, he would use it as a trump card, as a threat. He used it to manipulate me, said if I didn't do what he wanted, he would leave me and I would be alone. I was terrified of being alone. My dad was dead, or he just never cared enough about me to get in contact, and my mother was paralytic. Ever since I was young she'd been saturated with alcohol. I was just even more aware of it when I was older.

School was the only time I could try and attempt to lead a normal life. It was the only warm place I could find, and I even had a few friends there. But it was where I met Nicky, and it was where I began to let him become the most important part of my life. By 15, I was doing drugs, drinking, and having sex with Nicky. In exchange for food, water, a warm place to live...

And he never let me forget it, of course. By the time he had me stealing and doing crimes, I'd woken up, realised how stupid I'd been. When I found out about Harriet... that was when I knew he'd never loved or cared for me at all. She was another one of his. And there were others. Ruby, Amy, Gina. On weekends, there was Sia, Lia and Mia (triplets with cruel parents), Karen, Carol and Deana. And they all knew about each other, and about me. I had been the only one stuck in the dark. And that was fine. But I'd needed to get out of there, fast, and the only way to do that was to stay a while, go along with his plans, and then when I was next asked to steal something, cock it up and get sent somewhere—anywhere—away from him.

But I was asked to murder someone instead—something I would hopefully never do, no matter what the circumstances were—a man, Alex Johns, who had (for some reason) offended Nicky. I made sure to stab him in his leg, where the damage wouldn't be too bad, and I did it in front of the police so that I would get caught. And then, at my trial, I had pleaded guilty and when they tried to make me go to the local prison I had protested. Wasn't there somewhere far away I could go? Anywhere?

So they sent me to Camp Green Lake, figuring that would be punishment enough; a girl going to a boys camp would be seen as humiliating and also, the inmates would probably bully me out of my 'bad habits' such as stabbing people. And now, Nicky had somehow managed to find me, and had got himself sentenced here.

Of course.

As I finished explaining my shitty situation, the boys looked at me in silence. There had been no interruptions, mercifully, just silence as I told them about my life as a twisted teen. They didn't judge. They just sat there, knowing that my issues ran deep and not caring. They all had issues too, didn't they? Why else would they have been here, if their lives weren't fucked up too?

"Acacia, it's going to be okay." Said Arsenic eventually. He took my hand and squeezed it tightly, and I was suddenly thankful that I'd made friends with all of these guys. They were... there for me, even Axe, who claimed to hate me. They were the... weirdest people I'd met in my life. Odd. And I was so happy to have found them, even if it had taken a load of shit to get to this point in time.

The shit had, in the end, been worth it.

"So, what are we going to do now?" the question was posed by Antsy, who was looking anxious. Very anxious. So anxious, in fact, that I had the urge to give him a hug and ask him what was wrong—and then I realised that he was completely freaked out by Nicky, my charming boyfriend.

"You do realise he's not going to kill anyone, right?" _not yet, anyways_. I added on mentally. "He's probably just here for me, you know. He's probably just here to," I paused as I attempted to find an appropriate word "talk."

"_Talk_?" asked Arsenic angrily. "You don't really believe that, do you Acacia? You—did you even see the way he _looked _at you?"

"He looked at me," I started loudly "Like I was a piece of meat, like I was a trophy he owned." Arsenic nodded, anger faltering. "And that," I finished "is because as far as he knows, I do belong to him and I am just a piece of meat."

"And you go out with him?" asked Arrow incredulously. "You don't even like him, do you?"

"It's complicated!" I said, his contempt for me pissing me off. "Weren't you listening when I told you about why I started going out with him? Don't you know that he could kill my mum if I don't stay with him? And then I would truly have no one in this world, other than him."

"You have me." said Arsenic seriously, looking me straight in the eyes. His brown eyes were warm and reassuring. "You have me. You're not on your own in this, Acacia."

"For now," I snapped. "For now I have you. But what about when we get out of this place? What happens when we get back to reality, and go home or wherever? We won't stay in touch. We might try to, but it just won't happen. You will forget about me, as soon as you are gone, and I will be alone again. Please don't try to make promises you can't keep." I begged him, hoping he would see that while it was a kind gesture, it just wasn't practical or realistic to assume we would ever see each other again when we got out of this place.

"While I am here, you are safe," he assured me softly. "And when I am gone, I will be waiting for you. You get out in August next year, right? And I get out in July next year. I will wait the month for you, and you can stay with me and be safe." When he put it like that, it sounded so tempting and idyllic. Just what I wanted and needed. But where would we live? And how would we get by without any money?

"Hello, Isis." Said Nicky, his snide voice preceding his entrance to our tent. "Have you missed me?" he asked me with a sarcastic smile. I frowned.

"Now that you mention it, no, I haven't." I replied shortly, wanting him to just leave me in peace.

"Aww, come on, Ice. You know you're the only girl for me," he chuckled. I snorted.

"That's funny. I know of ten other girls who'd contradict you." He shrugged his shoulders, uncaring.

"They're not half as amusing as you are, my dear. Not even _half _the girl you are—and that's quite a compliment, considering. You see, none of them quite have your smile. Or is it that they cannot replicate the steel in your eyes? No, it must be that none of them can take ecstasy in that... _special_... way of yours. You're the only girl I know that makes drug taking look so glamorous." I wanted to hit him, but I knew—and he knew too—that I couldn't and wouldn't. I'd be a fool to try and take him on in conditions like these, with my body severely dehydrated and malnourished.

But, I did have muscles I'd never had before. I was a lot stronger than I had been. All I would need to do would be to get him before I'd done my hole of the day, to ensure maximum strength—and maybe wait until he'd dug a few and felt weak and horrible too. Then, using brute force and the power of extreme anger, I would be able to hit him. Hard. Multiple times.

But I was already in a correction camp. Violence was something we were supposed to be over with. Though that didn't mean that sometimes it wasn't necessary. Sometimes violence was crucial in survival. Survival of the fittest.

"I'm not that girl anymore, Nicky. I'm not the girl that you could bully. I don't do _anything _I don't want to, now." I told him defiantly.

"But you were once that person, my dear. You could be her again." he pointed out. He made it sound like it was inevitable—that he would wave his hand and I would fall to my knees and bow, content to do as he commanded of me. Truthfully, I couldn't have been farther away from that mindset.

"I will never be that person again. I won't let myself." He smiled at me, as though I were a naive child.

"We'll see." Was all that he said before giving me a last stare, and leaving our tent.

I let out a sigh of relief and fell back on my hard cot, shaken. And then I let myself do something I hadn't wanted to in years—I let myself cry.


	7. Chapter 7

I'm (Not) Falling In Love

Previously: And then I let myself do something I hadn't wanted to do in years—I let myself cry.

It was really surprising. I hadn't cried for years, not since I was about 6 or 7. I could hardly remember the way a lump formed in my throat, and my nose started to run. I couldn't really remember how it had felt; my eyes stinging and the salty liquid leaving tracks on my cheeks as they fell hard and fast. My tongue flicked out just as some of the tears reached my lips and I tasted it. It was really weird.

I shut my eyes, but I could still feel the boys watching me cry. How must I look to them? Weak. Pathetic. Nothing more than a typically over emotional girl. I had good reason to be one, but I'd avoided it for years. Still, this one time it couldn't hurt. It was weak—but it was everything I hadn't been feeling for years. In those tears were my pain and my loneliness from when my mum would sit there and be drunk. In them there was the shame I had felt many times—at school, wearing yesterday's clothes, with Nicky, when I realised all I'd been to him was a whore.

I had never cried at the time. All I'd let myself feel was anger, and that was what was driving me forward all the time. Always the anger, never the more vulnerable emotions. I needed the anger back, at least one more time so that I could confront him. So that I could show him he was nothing to me but a man—and men can be shut up, in one way or another.

I regained my composure, thinking of all the shit that I'd been through all these years and letting the anger flow through me freely. There was the rage I needed; here came the adrenalin as I felt all my indignities and frustrations build into one powerful ball of heat and fire. It was time.

I opened my eyes and ground my teeth together, standing abruptly and clenching my fists together. "It's time." Was all I told the boys on my way out of our tent, a tent which had begun to feel like home. My arms had muscles they'd never known they had before because of long days hauling a shovel about and digging holes. He was strong, certainly, but I had something he didn't have; a lifetime of anger. And now it was directed at him.

I knew the boys had followed me out. I thought they would; we'd grown tight in the short time I'd been here. Heck, I'd have Ace on my side if I told him about Nicky, despite him being a councillor. I walked without thinking about it to the Wreck room. I knew he'd be there. I couldn't sense his presence or anything freaky like that, but I did know how he worked. One of the first things he'd want to do was establish a comradeship with the other boys and find out information that way, as 'one of the boys'. He'd want to know what tent I was in, when I tended to go for a shower and when dinner was—and where I'd be sitting, too. He'd find it all out, and then he'd know he could strike whenever he wanted. And that could not happen. I had to get to him first, make him realise he was in deeper shit than even he could handle now.

And he was. I had all of my tent to back me up, and all of D-tent too. Probably even E-tent, because of Kevin. That was a majority of the people here. And who would he have? If he was lucky, he'd get support from Slow and Slower. But even they wouldn't stoop that low, and if they did, they were quite easy to confuse. We'd all been here for longer, and we were all pretty tough from that digging. If it came to a fight, we were in pretty good shape. A bit malnourished, but still good to win a fight. I'd bet on us.

"How do you know he'll be in the Wreck room?" Arrow asked me quietly.

"It's where he'd go first. He wants to make some friends, get the latest gossip on the girl camper. He'll probably already know when I go for a shower by now, he's good at charming people at first. That's why we need to get there now and tell him to back the fuck off." I told Arrow steadily, my voice made of steel.

"Our odds of beating him are about a gazillion to one," Ape said happily, cracking his knuckles menacingly.

"Who will we have as back up?" Antsy asked anxiously, seeming to jitter instead of walk.

"D-tent and E-tent are our best shots," I told him with a smile.

"We probably won't get B-tent on our side," Arsenic said with a hint of a frown. "But we might have C-tent. They're unpredictable, sure, but they don't tend to like cocky new people. Particularly not ones that have done wrongs to women." I turned to look at him with surprise.

"So _that's_ why B-tent and C-tent don't get along!" I exclaimed loudly. Arsenic snorted.

"Well _duh_. Don't you listen to anything I tell you? Remember? The bit where I was like "oh hey Isis, this is how camp works, these are the people you should avoid otherwise you'll die, blah blah blah.""

"You didn't say that. Well you did say the part about avoidance and people will kill me, but you did not say at any point that C-tent and B-tent hated each other."

"I didn't?" he asked me with a blank face. Then he remembered and muttered something I couldn't hear. "I didn't, did I? Sorry."

"It's alright. No harm done and all that. Best I found out later than never," I told him with a shrug. He nodded and that was the end of that. We approached the Wreck room steadily, and I clenched my fists when we reached the door. I took a deep breath in, and then opened the door. It was time.


	8. Chapter 8

I'm (Not) Falling In Love

Previously: I took a deep breath in, and then opened the door. It was time.

There he was, sat with Slow and Slower as I had expected. I knew him so well. He looked up to see who had entered and appeared startled to see all seven of us there, arms crossed and faces stern. He recovered quickly and stood up. He looked friendly enough, but I could see he was tensed. Ready for a fight.

"Ah, Isis. There you are."

"She's called Acacia," Arsenic corrected him with a glare. Nicky snorted, and waved his hands dismissively.

"Her name is Isis. Isn't it, Isis?" he asked me, his jaw set stubbornly. His eyes connected with mine and they seemed to dare me to oppose him, to find out what would happen if he was angry with me. That further pissed me off. Who did he think he was, coming into this camp and trying to make me do as he said?

"My name is Acacia." My voice was quiet, but in the silence of the Wreck room it felt like a shout. And perhaps that was appropriate—I was speaking out against him, finally. And I felt like I really had a shot at it. I was in a good place, mentally and physically, for all that I could do with some nourishing food. He raised an eyebrow, surprised by my defiance, then snorted and stood.

"You've been here too long, Ice. Time to go home." He told me mildly. I walked closer to him, arms still crossed and the boys towering behind me.

"Oh, but I am home. It's you that's been here too long, Nick. Go away." I was keeping an even voice. It was calm, too. It wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be, to stand here and face him. He frowned, and I had to hide a smile. Was he finally realising I wasn't one of his, that he no longer had any power over me? It had taken him long enough. No wonder he had approached Slow and Slower from the start; they were on his level mentally. I couldn't help but laugh at that thought, and his frown deepened.

"Why are you laughing?" Nick asked me sharply.

"Your face," I told him with a giggle, and the boys behind me, and some of those around me, laughed too. "Now," I continued with a conversational tone. "I'll have you know that unless you want your face to become a bloody pulp you will pull whatever strings that got you in here, and use them to get yourself back out and away from me."

"I won't!" he yelled, moving toward me aggressively. The boys behind me straightened, and I could see some of the other guys from E-tent and D-tent gather with my boys. It was a touching gesture. I could see Nick looking at all of the people standing with me—and against him. While he was observing them, C-tent casually made their way to join our group. The only people left with him were B-tent, but they didn't look too eager to join him. They stayed where they were, watching the shift with curiosity. I smirked.

"Nicholas, you tire me with your pathetic pretences and powerless words. In here you will find that things are run _very_ differently to how they were run back home. These men are hardened criminals," I boasted with a wolfish grin. He looked scared at that, particularly when he looked at the more muscular guys like Ape and Gun from E-tent. "And they don't like cocky assholes coming in and trying to take over the place."

"You're lying," he croaked out. "They wouldn't hurt me." he said uncertainly. I wrinkled my nose at him.

"I so rarely lie, Nicky. You know that by now. You, on the other hand... you have never been very honest. So, what will it be? Would you like us to beat you up? Or would you like to leave now without a fuss? If you really like, you can run off in the dessert. You may find water and food somewhere in the thankless land, if you're lucky. If you're luckier, you'll die very early on without suffering too much." My voice was hard, cold. It was a voice I'd learned from him, the staring look I was giving him was also learned from him. He should have noticed, but he looked scared. Really scared. "Oh, and if you do choose to just go back home, there'll be no killing of my mother." I warned him angrily. "That's not a threat you'll be using on me again, lad. Because since I've been here—thanks to you, I might add—I've developed a good deal of strength and stamina. Why, I could kill you right now," I threatened him with a sweet smile.

B-tent, without Slow and Slower, stood and moved behind me and my boys. A near united front. Surely he had to realise the error of his ways now and leave me be, for now and forever? He wasn't going to be stupid enough to try and stay in my life, not with so many of us; all of us strong and capable. Or was he?


	9. Chapter 9

I'm (Not) Falling In Love

Previously: He wasn't going to be stupid enough to try and stay in my life, not with so many of us; all of us strong and capable. Or was he?

Nicky held up his hands in surrender, and sat down with a _thump_. "Alright, alright." He muttered. "Can we at least talk?" I nodded. "Alone?" he urged. The boys behind me made unhappy noises, and I wasn't too keen myself. Was it some kind of trick, so he could get me on my own and attack me? Because if it was, then it wasn't a very good one.

"Is this your idea of a cunning trick? Huh, Nicky? Get the _weak_, _defenceless_ girl all on her own, so you can fight her?" I spat at him. "I've got news for you, Nicholas boy. I'm not that girl anymore. I'm not someone you can manipulate, not someone you can control with ease. I am my own person now, and it took a stinking hot desert and a load of hole digging for me to discover that there are other things I can do. I don't need you for food, clothes, bill paying. I don't need you for friendship. I can make friends of my own. And I certainly don't need you as a boyfriend, when you're so unfaithful and disgusting. Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of these people."

"Is that what you think of me?" he asked me sadly. "That—that I would hurt you, and be so horrible to you?" I was about to respond when he continued. "I never hit you," he pointed out softly. "All I tried to do was keep you safe and with me. I was afraid you'd leave me; that's the only reason I threatened you all those times..." he was silent for a while, and I couldn't think of anything to say in reply.

"I came here for you, you know?" he told me eagerly. "The others... they're just not right. Never were. And I was sorry to let you down. That's why you were the only one I didn't tell about the others, because I hoped you were there just for me, and that we were in a real, functioning relationship. Look, I don't know how to do this!" he shouted, yanking at some of his hair. "All I've known is pain, and drugs and drink. And yes, promiscuity. But those moments I spent with you, the ones where we sat down and just held hands and talked? I miss it," he was near tears now. "I miss you, and your laugh, and your way of looking at things. I miss the way only you know how I take my tea, the others were just sex. You were everything. You still are everything. I haven't slept right for nearly a year, Ice girl." His eyes were haunted. I could see clearly the dark circles under his eyes. They were noticeable even from a distance.

"You cannot have me again," I told him simply. "I don't trust you, and I don't love you anymore. We have been through too much for me to allow myself to get swept up into lies again. I don't want to drink or take drugs or steal, or be asked to murder people you don't particularly like. And you can't promise that you've changed, because I really don't want to hear it. I don't want to listen to you and your sweet lies which entangled me so easily before. I am Acacia, for now. While I'm here. And I have people who care about me! I have friends. People who don't want anything from me—but that I don't sing near them." I added with a laugh, turning to look at Axe who winked back. "We can't be together Nicky. We're not good for each other. You'll find someone else, right? Someone who loves you and that you love back." Resigned, he nodded.

Then he spoke to the guys that stood with me. "You all take care of her, right? Keep her safe. Keep her happy." Then he swiftly left the room, and the guys crowded around me happily, lifting me into their arms and exclaiming about how it was over; we'd won. I was carried out of the room and back to my tent, then everyone else went back to the Wreck room to celebrate properly—all but Arsenic, who remained with me.

I laughed as the guys left us, and then turned to face Arsenic who was looking at me and smiling. "We did it!" I said triumphantly. His smile grew and he took a few steps closer to me.

"_You_ did it," he corrected me. I stepped closer to him, looking up into his face.

"I couldn't have done it without you," I shrugged, quickly adding "or the others. That's the only reason he didn't fight. Because we outnumbered him."

"But it was you that decided to face him. That took a lot of courage, after all you've been through." I laughed bitterly.

"I think the only reason I even decided that was because I knew I'd have you guys with me, standing against him and backing me up. You're the only reason I haven't gone crazy while I've been stuck here, you know?" it was embarrassing, how much I had become dependent on them for conversation and laughter. For a group of people to acknowledge I was a human being was a surprise, and a welcome one. He looked a bit awkward and turned red. "It's no big deal," he assured me sheepishly.

"It is to me," I told him shyly. We looked into one another's eyes for a couple of minutes, just staring for some reason. I hadn't really looked into his eyes before. They were a calm shade of green. Eventually the eye contact was broken, and we looked around awkwardly. Was it just me, or had the tent gotten smaller? He was standing so close to me. Our faces moved marginally, mine up and his down, getting steadily closer together. Was he going to kiss me? Was I going to kiss him back?

Before we could find out, the other boys entered and we moved apart abruptly. I didn't know about him, but I knew I was completely confused about what was going on. It was completely unexpected. I hadn't had thoughts like this for Arsenic before. How could I? He was nothing but another guy, at the end of the day. One of the lads. A tent mate. A jump suit. A very tall and handsome jump suit. A very tall and handsome jump suit who might possibly think I was handsome too. Shit.


	10. Chapter 10

I'm Not Falling In Love

Previously: A very tall and handsome jump suit who might possibly think I was handsome too. Shit.

"The Wreck room get boring, guys?" I asked them, nervously looking at Arsenic and hoping I looked composed and not how I felt—which was shaken and confused. What if they guessed what had been going on here, between Arsenic and I? Was there anything going on between Arsenic and I? How could there be, when I didn't even know his real name.

"Yeah, not much is going on in there. Mostly just talk about how badass our honorary girl is, really." Arrow told me, a hint of pride in his voice. I tried to fight off a blush—was it me, or was it really, _really_ hot in that tent lately? I'd thought it was hot when only Arsenic and I were in there, but now I was burning. Antsy, of course, noticed.

"Hey, what's wrong with your face?" he asked me, concerned.

"You dissing my face?" I replied defensively.

"Whoa, whoa. Get your panties out of a twist girl." I glared at him.

"There is nothing wrong with my panties! They are _not_ in a twist! He didn't even have an effect on my panties!" I cried out, furious. They all turned to look at me, and Arsenic raised an eyebrow mockingly.

"Who had an effect on your panties?" he asked me, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"There was no panty twisting in any way," I told them lamely. Arsenic smirked. I saw him open his mouth, probably about to say something incriminating, so I did the only thing I knew how: I ran out of the tent, and tried to find a place to hide. Which was a ridiculous idea, really. It was a fairly small camp, excusing the miles of desert that were desolate and not the best place to hide. I needed somewhere to hide that wasn't dangerous. I couldn't think of where to go, so I just... stopped. I stopped running. I sat down on the dusty, rocky ground and just sat. There was nowhere to hide, and running was such a stupid thing to do. What, I wondered, was I even running from?

Arsenic? It wasn't like he would hurt me. He wouldn't slap me, or kick me, or bruise me in any way. But what I was starting to think I was feeling was insanity. There was absolutely no way I had feelings for him. Not proper, legit feelings. I thought that I had lost them long ago, even before Nicky. I thought myself incapable of feeling real love. And with Arsenic it was too soon to tell. But it was such a dangerous idea. To stay with him, at this camp. And to spend time together. The more time I spent with him was more time for him to worm his way into my subconscious, to trick me into thinking I felt more for him than the others. So that was why I was running. I was afraid of myself, and the possibility that I might still have some emotion left in me.

I'd tried running before. It hadn't worked so far, so why was I running now? I was obviously going to have to turn back, go to that tent and make some kind of decision. I was going to be stuck here for months, after all. It would be fairly awkward, having to sleep out of the tent. So I travelled back, reluctantly. But as I did, I felt within me that it was the right thing to do. I didn't want to fuck this up. I only had one shot at this; it was make or break. They were all still in there when I got back, confused and sitting down. At least I wasn't the only confused one.

"Hi." It was all I could manage to say, and I was staring at the ground. I felt rather than saw Arsenic stand and move over to where I was standing, and I nearly flinched away from him. But I knew that would be a bad start. And I didn't want a bad start. I wanted to make things right with him, or as right as I could make them be. "I—" I started shakily, trying to gather my words. "I wasn't prepared for this," I eventually managed to gasp out. I looked up into his eyes, which were so comforting and reassuring. There was something there that hadn't been there before. Not until today, anyway. He moved his head closer to mine again, and mine lifted—just like before—but this time, our lips touched and moved together, melding into one as we wrapped our arms around one another, embracing and kissing fervently.

The others cheered loudly, startling us from our kiss. I dazedly looked up at him, and laughed a little as he took my hand and we sat with the others. All of us looked a little uncertain, but overall happy with what had just happened, and we spent the rest of the remaining time talking quietly amongst ourselves. I was just wondering what would happen tomorrow when I remembered—another day, another hole. It was a certainty, and reliable. I liked that. It would also be Nicky's first hole, which was bound to be funny if his tent was placed anywhere near ours. Even if it wasn't, there was always the wreck room, or even just a description from one of his tent mates. Perhaps digging some holes would even be good for Nicky. It might make his arms ache at the very least.

That night, Arsenic and I pulled our cots together (which resulted in a lot of mocking and wolf whistling) and we slept with our arms wrapped around one another. I felt safe and serene, able to lay there with my new boyfriend and just be. There was no pressure to do or say anything with him. I felt comfortable with just existing while I was with him. Like, no matter what went on that was enough for us. That at the end of the day, we could lay in one another's arms and just be two people who went to the same camp, had had shoddy pasts but were keen to change. Just Arsenic and Acacia. Just Isis and Tyler.


End file.
